Psalm 33

¹ Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
² Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
³ Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
⁴ For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
⁵ The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
⁶ By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea into jars; he puts the deep into storehouses.
⁸ Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him.
⁹ For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
¹⁰ The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
¹¹ But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.
¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.
¹³ From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;
¹⁴ from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth-
¹⁵ he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do.
¹⁶ No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength.
¹⁷ A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.
¹⁸ But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
¹⁹ to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.
²⁰ We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
²¹ In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name.
²² May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Question: What does a man who fears God do when the nation he loves and is proud to be called am American turns away from God? In verse eight it states, “let all the earth fear God, let all the people of the world revere him”. As we look at the world today, we see a world that can be compared to Sodom and Gomorrah. Are we like Lot and look at this world as our home or are we like Abraham and look for a new heaven and a new earth? What does a man who fears God do? He waits in hope for the Lord.

I was blessed by having great Bible teachers early in my life. One of these teachers taught me the important lesson of understanding the importance of carefully studying lessons on living given to us in the scriptures. One of these lessons is found in Genesis chapter thirteen. Both Abram and Lot were blessed greatly by the Lord which caused issues over who was going to use the best grazing land. To address this issue Abram gave Lot the chose of moving left (south) or right (north) and then he would move to the other direction. However, Lot looked to the east toward the plains of the Jordan, where he pitched his tent toward Sodom.

In Genesis 13:13 we read “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly” which was probably the reason why Abram did not offer this chose to Lot. It was not long later we see that Lot moved not only toward Sodom, but dwell there. II Peter 2:7,8 reads “And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.” This is why John writes in I John 2:15,16 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”

As I study verse fifteen “he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do”, I have a better understanding of the relationship that man has with God. God, who forms the hearts of all, the God who is the creator of all the universe has created in us a heart that can make choices. Man does have a free will to choose the way in which he walks on this earth. Why we were created with a free will to choose I cannot answer; however, I know we have the ability to decide the way in which we walk. Do we walk toward Sodom (the way of the world) or dwell in the plains that the Lord has set before us?